Travels through 1202

Section 1202 provides an excellent tax benefit to those who qualify—an exclusion of capital gain from gross income. The exclusion can apply to as much as 100 percent of the gain on the sale of qualified small business stock (QSBS). In recent years—since the exclusion became permanent in 2015, and when the corporate tax rate was lowered to 21 percent in 2017 legislation—section 1202 has caught the eye of more investors, including many in the private equity and venture capital sectors. Many practical questions about the application of section 1202 remain unanswered, in part because of a dearth of precedential case law, regulations, or other guidance. Similarly, published tax literature on this topic is relatively sparse, addressing only some of the unanswered questions. This article, as published in Tax Analysts’ Federal Tax Notes, highlights some of these questions and suggests some answers.